New Website Launched To 'SaveUSAWindJobs'

WASHINGTON, D.C. --
Wind power is creating one of America's fastest-growing manufacturing sectors, providing 75,000 jobs in the U.S. currently and the promise of 500,000 jobs less than 20 years from now. But these jobs are in jeopardy without stable tax policy for the wind energy industry. Now a new website—complete with a compelling and informative new video—has launched to help enable Americans to do something about it.

The brand-new website, SaveUSAWindJobs.com, empowers Americans by giving them the facts about the urgent need to extend wind power’s key federal tax incentive, the Production Tax Credit (PTC), and gives them the tools to get involved in the growing movement to pass a four-year extension. By passing an extension, Congress will save American jobs currently in danger of being shipped overseas and help the wind industry support 500,000 American jobs by 2030 as projected by the U.S. Department of Energy in the George W. Bush administration.

In the past, when the PTC was allowed to expire, wind installations dropped between 73 and 93 percent, with corresponding job losses. The SaveUSAWindJobs.com website provides vital information on the issue, including a visual depiction of this harmful yet preventable boom-bust cycle. The site also features a succinct 90-second video explaining how wind power means jobs, and how the PTC is a key driver of job creation. All 50 states have seen a positive economic impact from wind farms and factories, the video points out.

“Eliminating a tax credit to rake in more tax revenue,” the video notes, “is a tax hike.”Other compelling features available on the website that shine light on this crucial issue for America include a PTC fact sheet as well as a primer showing America’s ability to meet 20 percent of its electricity needs with wind power—that is, with sound policies like the PTC in place.

Most importantly, SaveUSAWindJobs.com provides the tools with which Americans can take action. On the site, visitors can easily identify and contact their Members of Congress, and get the information they need to communicate to them the importance of a PTC extension.

“The SaveUSAWindJobs website is a powerful tool for the overwhelming majority of Americans who say they want more wind power,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “The need for a PTC extension is urgent. I ask everyone who supports more clean, homegrown wind power and more American manufacturing jobs to engage their Members of Congress by tapping into this valuable resource.”

SaveUSAWindJobs.com includes information on the “Save USA Wind Jobs Coalition” a broad, nonpartisan coalition of 369 members, including manufacturing, farm and business interests. The large and diverse group recently issued a letter endorsing the four-year extension of the PTC sponsored by Representatives Dave Reichert (R, WA-08) and Earl Blumenauer (D, OR-03) (H.R. 3307, the “American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act”). Signatories to the letter include the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Edison Electric Institute, the Western Governors’ Association, the United Steelworkers and many members of the environmental community. The letter is available here.

Support for this important piece of legislation was also recently received from the bipartisan Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, 23 Republican and Democrat governors from states all across the country. A copy of the Governor’s Wind Energy Coalition letter can be found here.

John Feehery, a former spokesman for several Republican congressional leaders, including former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and currently President of Communications and Director of Government Affairs for Quinn Gillespie and Associates, also recently endorsed extending the PTC.

Carl Levesque is the communications editor at AWEA. This article first appeared in the AWEA Windletter and was reprinted with permission from the American Wind Energy Association.

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Carl is Editor & Publications Manager at the American Wind Energy Association, where has worked since 2006. At AWEA he oversees AWEA's online and print publications including the Wind Energy Weekly, Windpower Update, and other products....